total_moviesfandomcom-20200215-history
Twins (1988)
Twins is a 1988 comedy film, produced and directed by Ivan Reitman about unlikely twins (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito) who were separated at birth. The core of the film is the relationship between DeVito's streetwise character and Schwarzenegger's intellectual persona. The original music score was composed by Georges Delerue and Randy Edelman. It grossed $11 million on its opening weekend, and went on to gross $216 million worldwide. Plot Julius Benedict (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Vincent Benedict (Danny DeVito) are fraternal twins, the results of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to produce the perfect child using genetic material from six carefully chosen male donors. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and twins were born. The mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all. Julius was informed that his mother died in childbirth. Vincent believed his mother abandoned him. Each twin is unaware of the other's existence. The genetics program was shut down soon after they were born. Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles while Julius was taken to a South Pacific island and raised by Professor Werner (Tony Jay), one of the scientists involved in the experiment, like a modern Doc Savage to become physically strong and spiritually pure. Julius is highly intelligent, fluent in twelve languages, and excels in a multitude of academic subjects. Upon Julius' 35th birthday, Werner tells him that he has a twin brother. Julius leaves the island to find him. In Los Angeles, with no one but himself to rely on, Vincent escaped from the orphanage and became a petty criminal, involved in shady business deals and car theft, and heavily indebted to notorious loan sharks the Klane Brothers. He is also a womanizer and a smart aleck with a lust for money. Eventually, he gets arrested for multiple unpaid parking tickets. Julius discovers Vincent lives in L.A., and travels throughout the city. Though intelligent, he is extremely naïve about the real world his more streetwise brother inhabits; at one point he inadvertently foils an attempt by two thieves to mug him. He finds Vincent in jail. Vincent is scornful when Julius tells him they are twins, but lets Julius bail him out and then drives off. Julius tracks Vincent to his workplace, where he is being beaten by one of the Klane brothers for the unpaid debt. Julius overpowers Morris and earns Vincent's respect and trust. He meets Vincent's on-again-off-again girlfriend, Linda Mason (Chloe Webb). Knowing little about women, Julius is oblivious to the flirtatious advances of her blond sister Marnie (Kelly Preston), who dislikes Vincent, but eventually falls in love with her. Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage which proves their mother is still alive but, believing she abandoned him, he has no interest in finding her. Julius visits the address and while their mother is not there, he does meet one of his six fathers, who fills him in on the experiment and suggests another of the scientists, Mitchell Traven, who may know of Mary Ann's whereabouts. Vincent steals a Cadillac to sell to his chop-shop contact, and discovers a secret prototype fuel injector in the trunk, which was to be delivered to an industrialist in Houston for $5 million. He decides to deliver it himself and collect the money. Webster (Marshall Bell), the original delivery man, begins ruthlessly searching for the person who stole the prototype. At Julius' insistence, the two couples go on a cross-country journey to track Traven down. They eventually find him in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and he tells them that their mother is living in an art colony near Santa Fe. He also informs them that their embryo did not split equally; all the goodness and purity went into Julius, while the "genetic garbage" left over went into Vincent. Julius consoles a devastated Vincent, reasoning that while he was raised in an ideal environment, Vincent had to learn life the hard way. The Klane brothers find them again, with the intent of killing Vincent, but Julius and Vincent fight them off for the last time. At the art colony, a woman informs them that Mary Ann is dead and they leave. In reality, she is their mother but disbelieved their story, thinking them to be developers. Meanwhile, Webster is also getting closer to finding Vincent. While Julius accepts their mother's death, Vincent becomes bitter and storms off, leaving Julius and the girls stranded in New Mexico, to deliver the engine to the industrialist, Beetroot McKinley. Linda tells Julius about the engine and Julius once again sets off to find his brother. Vincent delivers the stolen property to Beetroot, but Beetroot and his assistant are shot and killed by Webster, who then turns his attention to Vincent just as Julius arrives. A cat-and-mouse chase ensues and Julius intercepts Webster as Vincent flees, but Vincent, feeling his brother's presence, reluctantly goes back and gives up the money to Webster. As Webster prepares to kill them both anyway, Julius stalls Webster long enough for Vincent to release a heavy chain on him, burying him under it. Julius and Vincent make their peace, and Vincent reluctantly agrees to return the money and the stolen engine to the authorities, but secretly skims off one million. Meanwhile, the twins' publicity reaches the art colony, and their mother realizes that the two "comedians" who visited her were her long-lost sons after all. She pays Traven a visit and punches him on the nose for "stealing her family." Julius and Vincent marry the Masons, and use the $50,000 reward money to start up a legitimate consulting business, using Julius' knowledge and Vincent's questionable business savvy. Mary Ann tracks them down to their office and they share a tearful reunion. In the end, both brothers end up having pairs of twins with their respective wives, with their mother and Professor Werner completing the big, happy family. Cast *Arnold Schwarzenegger as Julius Benedict *Danny DeVito as Vincent Benedict *Kelly Preston as Marnie Mason *Chloe Webb as Linda Mason *Bonnie Bartlett as Mary Ann Benedict *David Caruso as Al Greco *Trey Wilson as Beetroot McKinley *Marvin J. McIntyre as McKinley's man *Marshall Bell as Mr. Webster *Tony Jay as Professor Werner, also the narrator *Hugh O'Brian as Granger, one of the twins' fathers *Jason Reitman as Granger's grandson *Catherine Reitman as Granger's granddaughter *Nehemiah Persoff as Professor Mitchell Traven *Maury Chaykin as Burt Klane *Sven-Ole Thorsen as Sam Klane *Gus Rethwisch as Dave Klane *Richard Portnow as Tony, the chop shop owner *Frances Bay as Mother Superior *Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Asian man *Elizabeth Kaitan as Secretary *Joe Medjuck as Photographer at the start of the film *Nicolette Larson as Singer *Jeff Beck as Guitarist *Terry Bozzio as Drummer *Heather Graham as young Mary Ann Benedict (uncredited) *Robert Harper as Gilbert Larsen Category:Films Category:1988 release Category:Arnold Schwarzenegger films Category:Danny DeVito films